The future Hall of Famer, hampered in his ongoing recovery from a severe foot injury, is presently “just a guy,” this newspaper opined last week. Among other slights, Gates recently had relayed to him a Yahoo! column in which an anonymous Chargers source was quoted as saying Gates was “old and fat.”

Recalling that assessment, a smiling Gates said: “It was like funny to me … When it gets personal to me, then maybe it’s the truth. So I took the fact that I laughed about it as a good sign. Because when I know certain things that aren't true about certain things it is more of a joking matter.”

Gates repeatedly avoided giving any estimate regarding at what percentage he is playing, though he acknowledged it is less than 100.

“That’s the reality,” he said. “But the reality is that I can still go compete. So I’m not a 100 percent physically? But ain’t nothing wrong with my mind. I don’t have brain damage, my hands are fine, I understand coverages, I know schemes. So to me, I still try to make that contribution.

“When you want to be something special, you learn how to do it when you ain’t a hundred percent. Period. Like, you don’t find excuses of why I can’t get it done. You don’t find excuses of why you can’t make that play, ’cause you just don’t find those excuses. And once you start finding those excuses in your mind, you never really wanted to be great.

“I could easily sit up here and say, ‘Ah man, I got to go out here, ah, they covering me, my foot, you know, I couldn’t get open on this because of my foot.’ You can use that, and that’s a crutch. When you start using it, then it starts manifesting to reality.”

After sitting out three straight games, Gates has played the past four games, catching 22 passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns. He has clearly lacked his previous burst off the line and uncanny ability to escape defenders both in routes and after he catches the ball. He is not denying the fact he doesn't have his full repertoire of talents at present. But he believes this to be a temporary slowdown that is moving in the right direction.

“I know I need to still get healthy -- to a point where I can do the things that I know I still can do,” he said. “When you’re playing in a situation where you’re not where you want to be, I think it shows up. When I’m playing, I’m like, ‘Gawlee, I can make it, but I can’t make it how I want to make it.’ And it’s like, ‘Okay, but I’m making it better than what I was making it two months ago, and I think at the end of the year, I hope that I can get back to the point where I can make it the way I know I can make it.”